Forgot to mention the dreadful kebab last night. Having had a large lunch I wasn't very hungry. Went out for a walk to watch the TGV trains coming and going at Gare de Tours - about 300m from the hotel. Across the road from the station was a takeaway place that said it did kebabs for 4.50euro. I figured that would be OK - especially since with came with frites (chips). It was nothing like a kebab in New Zealand. A great big bun full of non-descript meat (I think it was lamb) and a little bit of lettuce tomato raw onion and the tiniest dab of humus. It was disgusting. I ate the chips and threw the kebab away.
Got away to an early start to day - not long after 7. Fortunately going against the flow of the rush hour traffic into Tours. Only touristy stop of the day was the troglodyte village at Rochmenier. This is not per-historic troglodytes but very much historic. The 2 farms were abandoned about 1900 and during WWI. I can understand why to - the temperature in summer in the caves is about 13 degrees. I hate to think what it is like in winter - and then there is the problem of damp. It hasn't rained for several days but the ground was still slightly wet feeling to the hand. A real surprise wwas the beautiful 13th century stone church - above ground - in the village. There was also a chapel in the caves but Ican't understand why with this beautiful church 100m away.
Then came the drive to St Nazaire. 122km of motorway from Cholet to St Nazaire including 18km of ring road around Nantes that includes a bridge that is way above the Loire River - higher than Auckland Harbour Bridge. No idea why as the river only takes small boats not large ships. However before I got there a small problem. There was an accident on D960 - I think shortly before I got to the traffic jam as all the emergency services went past while I was stopped. Told to turn around and take a different road to Cholet. The map I had only showed the main roads and the few back roads in the area didn't have there numbers on the map. So did a u-turn went back 1km then went north for a bit and then got my bearings wrong and went right at an intersection when left was heading west. Finished up doing a 22km loop to get 9km in the direction I wanted to go. It was nearly 1pm when I stopped at Nuaille for lunch. The boulangerie had lots a yummy looking sweet stuff but a settled for a couple of croissants since there was nothing savory to be had. I only found out where I had gone by buying a better map.
There is a huge wetland on the edge of St Nazaie - La Grand-Briere. For my afternoon walk I tried following the grande randonee (walking track) that runs across the wetland. The track was marked as far as the edge of the wetland occasionally but I was then faced with 2-3km across country that was very wet in places and no markings.
Went to Chez Tata restaurant at Hotel Berry tonight. Discovered once I got in the car and started driving it was only 700m - virtually just across the river that runs out of the wetlands. The best meal I've had in France - crab and vegtable crumble for entree and duck for the main. Really well done. I was getting sick of the menu on Tours area. Everyone serves a goat meat and/or goat cheese salad, beef and salmon. The one thing I was looking forward to in France and I've only had once was crepes.
I was hoping to do the tour of the airbus plant tomorrow but it is only on Mondays and Wednesdays. I also skipped stopping in Nantes. The way St Nazaire is treated as a 1 paragraph side entry to Nantes in Lonely Planet made me think it was close. I was planning to visit Les Machines de l'Ile de Nantes this afternoon but when the GPS told me ot would take just over an hour to get to the heart of Nantes I decided to flag it - especially as the retrun trip would be leaving Nantes in the rush hour.
Got away to an early start to day - not long after 7. Fortunately going against the flow of the rush hour traffic into Tours. Only touristy stop of the day was the troglodyte village at Rochmenier. This is not per-historic troglodytes but very much historic. The 2 farms were abandoned about 1900 and during WWI. I can understand why to - the temperature in summer in the caves is about 13 degrees. I hate to think what it is like in winter - and then there is the problem of damp. It hasn't rained for several days but the ground was still slightly wet feeling to the hand. A real surprise wwas the beautiful 13th century stone church - above ground - in the village. There was also a chapel in the caves but Ican't understand why with this beautiful church 100m away.
Then came the drive to St Nazaire. 122km of motorway from Cholet to St Nazaire including 18km of ring road around Nantes that includes a bridge that is way above the Loire River - higher than Auckland Harbour Bridge. No idea why as the river only takes small boats not large ships. However before I got there a small problem. There was an accident on D960 - I think shortly before I got to the traffic jam as all the emergency services went past while I was stopped. Told to turn around and take a different road to Cholet. The map I had only showed the main roads and the few back roads in the area didn't have there numbers on the map. So did a u-turn went back 1km then went north for a bit and then got my bearings wrong and went right at an intersection when left was heading west. Finished up doing a 22km loop to get 9km in the direction I wanted to go. It was nearly 1pm when I stopped at Nuaille for lunch. The boulangerie had lots a yummy looking sweet stuff but a settled for a couple of croissants since there was nothing savory to be had. I only found out where I had gone by buying a better map.
There is a huge wetland on the edge of St Nazaie - La Grand-Briere. For my afternoon walk I tried following the grande randonee (walking track) that runs across the wetland. The track was marked as far as the edge of the wetland occasionally but I was then faced with 2-3km across country that was very wet in places and no markings.
Went to Chez Tata restaurant at Hotel Berry tonight. Discovered once I got in the car and started driving it was only 700m - virtually just across the river that runs out of the wetlands. The best meal I've had in France - crab and vegtable crumble for entree and duck for the main. Really well done. I was getting sick of the menu on Tours area. Everyone serves a goat meat and/or goat cheese salad, beef and salmon. The one thing I was looking forward to in France and I've only had once was crepes.
I was hoping to do the tour of the airbus plant tomorrow but it is only on Mondays and Wednesdays. I also skipped stopping in Nantes. The way St Nazaire is treated as a 1 paragraph side entry to Nantes in Lonely Planet made me think it was close. I was planning to visit Les Machines de l'Ile de Nantes this afternoon but when the GPS told me ot would take just over an hour to get to the heart of Nantes I decided to flag it - especially as the retrun trip would be leaving Nantes in the rush hour.
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